Altered taste and smell after anesthesia: cause and effect?
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A 37-year-old female presented with complaints of ageusia, dysosmia, fatigue, and toilet tissue pica. She was found to have hypozincemia and iron deficiency anemia. Her complaints quickly abated when treated with oral zinc and iron.
This is a review of multiple pathologic conditions associated with altered taste perception and identification. We stated the steps and the molecular basis of this sense. This paper includes two cases that exemplify two distinct types of dysgeusia; case, 1 a 48 year old man who had clinical manifestations of hypogeusia and dysgeusia for one year, probably secondary to air pollutants. Case 2, a 37 year old man who worked in the same factory and also had dysgeusia; we concluded that it was secondary to thermal and chemical agression of the oropharynx; his plasma and urinary levels of zinc were normal. Many medications and contaminants of air and water are related with changes in serum and urine levels of zinc, which is a determinant at several levels for the correct integration of the taste system. Namely it is important for synthesis of the metalloprotein, gustin, a parotid gland protein secreted into saliva, which in turns is very important to make union of the sapid substance (SS) with its receptor in the surface of the gustatory epithelium a the taste buds. Zinc is also related with neurotransmission of the electrical stimulus generated in the bud cell and ending in the central nervous system. There is an acute zinc loss syndrome, seen in patients treated with histidine, which simulates the steps in which taste sensation is integrated. A clinical approach for diagnosis of hypogeusic or dysgeusic patients must include a careful evaluation of the diat elements, an assesment of hereditary disorders, the type of work and contact with pollutants known to be related with dysgeusia. A special care regarding physical examination must be considered in particular a meticulous review of the oropharynx in order to diagnose inflammatory, neoplastic or neurological disorders. The levels of perception an identification of flavors: sweet, bitter, sour and salt, must be determined using the forced scale triple choice technic. Serum and urinary levels of zinc should be determined in each patient using a flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometer. A quantification of the activity of leucocyte alkaline phosphatase, a zinc metalloenzyme, is a useful aid, liver function tests. 13 and 14 determinations and serum protein electrophoresis are mandatory because many pathologic states of these organ systems are known to be related with disorders of taste. We wish to remark the important function of zinc in the taste system, the role of essential trace elements is receiving increased atention and these alterations are good examples of their clinical importance.
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High-altitude headache and taste dysfunction are usually cured within a few months by descent to sea level. We studied a patient who had persistent bitemporal throbbing headache with the associated findings of high-altitude headache syndrome 15 years after a compression chamber accident. He also had loss of taste without loss of smell since the incident.
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Disorders of taste and smell are underrecognized and often misdiagnosed. Two cases are described in which patients mistakenly thought to suffer from depression actually had unnoticed drug-induced dysosmia and dysgeusia. Also reviewed are psychiatric, neurologic, and medical disorders and drugs that cause abnormalities of taste and smell, and some behavioral aspects of food aversions. Three groups, all of whom may superficially appear depressed, must be distinguished from each other: 1) patients with dysosmia or dysgeusia, 2) patients with primary neuropsychiatric illness with olfactory or gustatory hallucinations, and 3) patients with conditioned taste aversions.
The case described is that of an unrelated bone marrow transplantation in a 43-year-old man. Although the major histocompatibility complex met the criteria for a perfect genotypic match, de novo graft-versus-host disease developed with unusual manifestations involving structures of the oral cavity and associated areas. The loss of taste and smell, as well as profound xerostomia, was treated by stimulating salivary flow. Synergistic sialagogues were used with the hope that an increase in salivary production would mediate an improvement in taste and smell.
BACKGROUND: Sporadic observations suggest a possible taste impairment in AL amyloidosis, but the frequency and intensity of this sensory anomaly are not known. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We submitted 21 AL amyloidotic patients, drawn from subjects referred to the Amyloidosis Study Center of the Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Therapy, University of Pavia, to suprathreshold scaling analysis. RESULTS: Taste acuity was reduced in most of them. Every taste showed independent behavior, and 90% of these patients were hypogeusic. True ageusia for one or two tastes was observed in 35% of patients. No patient was aware of reduced taste acuity. Macroglossia did not seem to play a prominent role in dulling tastes. CONCLUSIONS: Impairment of taste perception suggests that gustative neuropathy is a frequently unnoticed expression of sensory involvement in AL amyloidosis.
The results of 53 surgical tongue reductions using a new line of incision are reported. Follow-ups were made in 31 of the cases. Hardly any unfavorable results are to be expected from this operation as far as postoperative shape of the tongue, mobility, taste, sensitivity, and speech are concerned. The positive effect on disturbed speech is especially worth mentioning.
PURPOSE: To evaluate the return of sensation and taste after surgical repair of the lingual nerve in patients who had experienced lingual nerve sectioning. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Average follow-up was 3.7 years with a range of 1.1 to 4.6 yrs. The patients' assessment of tongue sensation and taste was registered. Clinical testing for sensibility included light touch, prick, sharp/dull discrimination, heat (45 degrees C), cold (0 degree C), anterior/posterior localization of touch, perception of direction of touch movement, and two-point discrimination. The sense of taste was tested with sweet (saccharose 5%), sour (citric acid 5%), salt (saline 5%), and bitter (chinin-hydrochloride 0.5%). RESULTS: Three patients rated their tongue sensation on the affected side as normal, another three scored subnormal, and one felt no sensibility. Likewise, four patients thought that their sense of taste was normal, two were undecided, and one felt no sense of taste on the affected side. The ability to differentiate the quality of taste on the operated side of the tongue was validated in four of 24 tests. Conversely, on the healthy side of the tongue, two of 24 tests proved negative for taste perception. CONCLUSION: There was a notable difference in the patients' assessment of normality of tongue sensation versus the result of neurological testing. Likewise, there was a remarkable difference between the patients' subjective impression of gustatory capability and their ability to diagnose the quality of taste on testing.